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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
I want to make everything!
I love that there's even the odd slow-cooker recipe.
I love that there's even the odd slow-cooker recipe.
I'm afraid I'm very overdue at the library with this book; I just didn't want to give it back. I've been waiting a looooooooooooooong time for this book to come out (what, Jane, the blog isn't enough for you??), and it's everything I hoped it would be. I only knocked off one star because I'm a bitter vegetarian for whom an entire chapter is off-limits, although that's hardly Deb's fault.
Things I made:
-Butternut squash and caramelized onion galette: OM NOM NOM. Also, my butter allowance for life was in that dough.
-Sweet peas and shells alfredo: don't halve the sauce as I did, for some reason. 2 cups of cream for one pound pasta is not crazy talk.
-Slow-cooker black bean ragout: To be fair, I haven't made all of the embellishments, just the beans, but they're just okay. Nothing I couldn't have made on the stovetop in a couple of hours. I'm guessing the pickled onions and cilantro will add to this.
-Wild rice gratin w/ kale, caramelized onions, and baby swiss: Just okay. I think I added too much rice, as it was really ricey (I mean, I know, but the ratio seemed too high even for being a rice dish).
-Grapefruit olive oil pound cake. OM NOM NOM. I do love me a loaf cake with glaze poured over. And fruity!
Things I made:
-Butternut squash and caramelized onion galette: OM NOM NOM. Also, my butter allowance for life was in that dough.
-Sweet peas and shells alfredo: don't halve the sauce as I did, for some reason. 2 cups of cream for one pound pasta is not crazy talk.
-Slow-cooker black bean ragout: To be fair, I haven't made all of the embellishments, just the beans, but they're just okay. Nothing I couldn't have made on the stovetop in a couple of hours. I'm guessing the pickled onions and cilantro will add to this.
-Wild rice gratin w/ kale, caramelized onions, and baby swiss: Just okay. I think I added too much rice, as it was really ricey (I mean, I know, but the ratio seemed too high even for being a rice dish).
-Grapefruit olive oil pound cake. OM NOM NOM. I do love me a loaf cake with glaze poured over. And fruity!
I don't usually review cookbooks, but I had to give a good rating to this one! I've made three recipes from this cookbook this week, and all were excellent - two were, in fact, so good that I've had to add them to my list of stapes!
I'm a sometimes vegetarian, so I was especially interested in the large number of meatless recipes. I recommend these:
Shaved asparagus pizza:
This was a revelation. I don't really make pizza at home, but she suggested using a frozen dough. I bought a whole wheat dough from Whole Foods. The pizza is topped with parmesan and mozzarella (I used lite mozzarella) and thinly shaved asparagus, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. It was so simple, but it was excellent - easily one of the best vegetarian pizzas I have had!
Sugar Snap pea salad with miso dressing
The salad is good (I love sugar snap peas) but it's all about the dressing. I'm obsessed with japanese restaurant salad dressing, and this one manages to be even better! I could have seriously eaten it by itself. I think with the addition of grated carrots and a little less honey it could be exactly like the restaurant dressing, but it might be even better this way.
I'm going to make more recipes from this one. I'm wary of blogger cookbooks, as some of them are just awful, but Deb Perelman really delivers!
I'm a sometimes vegetarian, so I was especially interested in the large number of meatless recipes. I recommend these:
Shaved asparagus pizza:
This was a revelation. I don't really make pizza at home, but she suggested using a frozen dough. I bought a whole wheat dough from Whole Foods. The pizza is topped with parmesan and mozzarella (I used lite mozzarella) and thinly shaved asparagus, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. It was so simple, but it was excellent - easily one of the best vegetarian pizzas I have had!
Sugar Snap pea salad with miso dressing
The salad is good (I love sugar snap peas) but it's all about the dressing. I'm obsessed with japanese restaurant salad dressing, and this one manages to be even better! I could have seriously eaten it by itself. I think with the addition of grated carrots and a little less honey it could be exactly like the restaurant dressing, but it might be even better this way.
I'm going to make more recipes from this one. I'm wary of blogger cookbooks, as some of them are just awful, but Deb Perelman really delivers!
Not only are there some LOVELY recipes here, the author/blogger, Deb Perelman, who writes the Smitten Kitchen blog & the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is laugh-out-loud funny!!! I've recommended this cookbook to a whole bunch of people, and I've not yet cooked a single one of Deb's recipes. But simply based on the reading, I love this cookbook!!
To Read: Definitely. Deb Perelman manages to combine cooking expertise with self-deprecating humor in a way that will make you want to try every recipe. After reading the stories that go with each recipe, I was always convinced that I must make the recipe she is describing, and that it would be successful. She has great cooking tips with the recipes, and I loved the section on her must-have cooking tools, that is really geared for normal people with small kitchens.
To Look At: Yes, there are several beautiful photos with each recipe. I think the photos, which appear to be taken in Perelman’s own kitchen, were also a factor in making each recipe seem appealing and manageable.
To Cook From: Yes! I had great success with the recipes that I tried, and all of the recipes are written in a way that the reader doesn’t have to do any guessing. I really can’t wait to go back and try more of the recipes.
To Look At: Yes, there are several beautiful photos with each recipe. I think the photos, which appear to be taken in Perelman’s own kitchen, were also a factor in making each recipe seem appealing and manageable.
To Cook From: Yes! I had great success with the recipes that I tried, and all of the recipes are written in a way that the reader doesn’t have to do any guessing. I really can’t wait to go back and try more of the recipes.
I was looking forward to this recipe book for a while, having read the Smitten Kitchen blog and used a few of the recipes there. The hold list in the hundreds at the Library leads me to believe I'm not alone - foodies love Perelman's original recipes. She is a wonderful creator of new things, which is hard enough to find in the food world. Many professional chefs don't share her sense of creativity or her technical expertise.
The book loses a star to the blog-post like biographical writing that accompanies the recipes. Yes, I know, it's a blog-based cookbook, but I didn't really enjoy reading thestricken out ironically redacted stuff.
The book loses a star to the blog-post like biographical writing that accompanies the recipes. Yes, I know, it's a blog-based cookbook, but I didn't really enjoy reading the
I find myself going a bit Homer-Simpson-confronted-by-a-stack-of-ribs drooly when I begin to flip through this book. Not only are the photographs outstanding, but the combinations of ingredients in each dish are unusual enough that this has become something completely different in my cookbook collection. I love the intro to each recipe - funny and down-to-earth, and I think Deb Perelman and I have very compatible cooking and baking habits. I've never read the Smitten Kitchen blog but I think it might be time to start.
Love love love this cookbook! I have flagged so many recipes to try- can't wait to get started. Great recipes, gorgeous pictures and fun anecdotes!
Deb Perelman's recipes have been my go-to favorites since I discovered her blog 3 years ago. Everything I make from her recipes gets raves, and I particularly appreciate how carefully her dishes and techniques are designed and described for the busy home cook. No pretension, no food snobbery -- just an honest appreciation for good things to eat in season, simply prepared. She's the best!